Pit scene, Horst Denneler L, Serge Holc R	213k 2.5cc 231k 5cc 265k 10cc	Horst Denneler, Michel Duran, David Giles

SMCC Landikon Switzerland

The Swiss Model Car Club was founded on January 7th 1951 in Basel. Enthusiasts from Zurich and Bern later created their own sections that joined FEMA. With no track at that stage, races took place on school playgrounds, car parks and in halls, including the first ever European Championship in 1952 in Geneva. With permanent tracks already in existence in many European countries, the SMCC was in need of a track of their own that complied with international regulations. In January 1952, the Zurich section of the SMCC issued ‘an invitation to the founding meeting’ that led to the building of a track at Landikon near Birmensdorf, which is to the south west of Zurich. The founder and person largely responsible for establishing the track was Emil Schlatter.

Inaugural meeting	Levelling the site	Inner running surface

Unlike most tracks that start of on a relatively flat piece of land, the site at Landikon was on a hillside that required several thousand tons of soil to be moved to create the circle, the spoil being used to create spectator banking, pit areas etc. The full sized excavator gives a clear indication of the size of this task.  As was often the case, there were two concentric circles, one relatively small for 1.5 and 2.5cc cars and a full sized circle for the larger cars. Another notable feature was that the entire circle was paved and carried advertising for Firestone tyres.

Pit are showing amount of excavation	Amphitheatre created by the track and banks

The track opened in 1953, hosting the European Championship there with competitors from Italy, Britain, France and Sweden, as well as the host nation. Competitors from Britain had a very close association with the track having won the team trophy that year, with Jack Cook and Jim Dean winning their first European Championships. Both would be regular visitors for several years, winning further international events there.   The track did not host another European Championship until 1963 as the opening of the Witterswill track at Basel in 1956 gave Switzerland a second venue. These venues hosted a unique ‘double header’ in 1958 with the inaugural World Tethered Car Championship at Zurich and the European Championship at Basel on consecutive weekends.

Landikon track 1953-1972	Track location 47.354884, 8.456090 Circle can still be seen

In 1972, the landlord of the site at Landikon gave notice for the SMCC to vacate the track, ostensibly so he could use it for his own purposes, covering it in a thick layer of earth. The track is still believed to exist under the soil in the area shown with the red circle. With the Zurich section of the SMCC unable to find a new site they merged with the Basel section in 1977.

Jack Cook 10cc Dooling	Cuttler, Cook, Dean, Petrie 1953	Two young Swiss enthusiasts 1968

We are most grateful to Christoph Zaugg, Roland Salomon, Philipp Meier and the Swiss Model Car Club for photos and information.

Sweden
GMRK Göteborg Tracks

In his recent reminiscences, John Goodall recalls being taken to the site of the original Göteborg Club track at Save, which had by then had become the airport that he had flown in to and an impressive cold war museum, which he visited. This track, which hosted the 1971 European Championship, was situated at what had been a top secret Swedish air force base that included hangars blasted out of the bedrock, which house the museum. The base closed in the late 60s,  and  some ten years later became the second civil airport to serve the town. The tethered car track was opened in 1967 but needed resurfacing in 1978.

Sadly, just two years later, the building of the new Hisingsladen road to the Volvo factory in Törslanda resulted in the GMRK having to relocate to a new site and build an entirely new track and facilities. The last meeting at the Save track was on the third of June 1980. The runway at Save was extended in 1984 to accommodate larger aircraft but ironically, although Save became Göteborg City Airport and home to budget airlines from 2001, it was only able to operate as such for thirteen years before all scheduled flights were transferred to Landvetter as the larger aircraft were breaking up the taxiways. 

The new track was built in the grounds of the Alelyckan waterworks in Largeholm, being completed in late 1984. A practice run was held in the Autumn of that year. The first official meeting was on the 24th-25th August 1985 with three drivers over 300kph, impressive for the time, Lennart Hellander topping the list at 307kph. The track was primarily used for Club and domestic events with the occasional FEMA GP or GS added to the calendar and was in use for less than two decades before another eviction. The future of both the Göteborg tack and the one at Gavle were both in doubt over the winter of 2004/5, but happily, Gavle continues to operate through to the present. Not so for the Larje Ring though, as the city council served notice on the Göteborg Club that their lease would not be renewed as the site that they had occupied for just on twenty years years was required as a dump for waste soil.                                                                             Right: The track in 1991

There was a vestige of hope that the track could be retained, especially if activities could be extended to youth and adult training, but this proved not to be viable and so the Club eventually was forced to vacate in 2005. As the photos show, the site had already started to be filled with waste, prior to burying the track as at Landikon in Switzerland. The last sanctioned event was in June 2004 where the winners were Jan-Erik Falk 1.5cc, Priit Hoyer 2.5cc, Mart Sepp both 3.5cc classes, Tiit Luman 5cc and Gualtiero Picco 10cc. Left: 2003

The site of the track is now an area of woodland between the waterworks building and the Gamlestadsvagen but of the track, nothing can be discerned.

The track from the top of the spoil	The spoil encroaching

The final meeting was on July 2^nd and 3^rd 2005 where Mats Böhlin had the honour of making the last ever run at 322.754kph. Also running were Leif Persson, Ake Ekstrand, Leif Linden, Kjell-Erik Odelius, Helge Eriksson, Nils-Erik Palmen, Nils Björk, Karl-Arne Karlsson and Ulf Ek, assembled above.

Thanks to Kjell-Erik Odelius and Leif Linden, who have provided detailed information and dates. if anyone has any photos from Save that they are prepared to share, we would be most grateful.

AMCA Algiers

Although not strictly a European track, Algeria was a French colony for many years with a huge French population. The proliferation of French tracks continued to expand with a superb tethered car track at the Stade Jules Verne in Algiers. The connection with Jules Verne was reinforced with a large model of his famous 'Rocket to the Moon' adjacent to the track. The director of the Auto Modele Club Algerian and catalyst for the building of the track was Dr Chabelard who, for Pentecost in 1957 organised an International 'Automodelisme' Festival. As well as the tethered car event there would also be a huge exhibition of a variety of models in the 'Salon De La Marine'. Although there were a number of local members, to make it a truly International event would require more experienced competitors from European Countries. To accommodate this, a charter plane flew a group over, which included Swiss, German and French competitors, some of whom were European Champions.

For interest, The entry list as far as we can ascertain included
Switzerland. Roland Salomon, Philip Rochat, Fredi Streun, Willi Jahlberg, Frans Berner, Eric Hostettler
France.        Celestin Duran, J Durand, H Stephan, R Bouche, Didier, with car and engine builder Msr Steeves
Italy            Miretti
Germany      Lallinger, Homrighausen, Eyers
Algeria         Chabelard, Blaise, Esposito, Acens

Possibly Roland Salomon horsing

1.5cc Salomon 119.2kph Miretti 105.2kph

2.5cc Salomon 123.2kph Salomon 120.00kph Lallinger 116.1kph Blaise 92.3kph Chabelard 90.00

5cc   Miretti 151.2kph Berner 124.1kph Blaise 117.6kph Esposito 115.3kph

10cc Jalhlberg/Rochat 191.4kph Lallinger 183.6kph Streun 178.2kph Stephan 174.7kph Hostettler 169.8kph Chabelard 162.1kph
       Dr Chabelard's speed was claimed as a new French record for the 'experimental class'

In addition, the second day of competition was given over to an endurance contest lasting over three hours involving numerous stops for refuelling and restarts, which proved to be the Achilles heel of the more experienced competitors who found  'starting their fast cars difficult'. Esposito ran out the winner with 209 laps, only Durand and Bouche getting amongst the local competitors.

Thanks to Christian Schmutz for these photos

Eger Hungary

Not so much a 'long lost track' as a sadly neglected facility. The track was in regular use until 2004 having hosted two European Championships in 1990 and 1996. On both occasions Class 5 was won by Paul Otto Stroebel. Urs Bach won the third of his six titles there and Peter Arlautzki the first of his Class 2 titles. These photos were posted on the speedmodelcar facebook page where Urs commented 'Renovate and let's run again'.